Webber makes history with Monaco win

Mark Webber has created history at the Monaco Grand Prix, with 6 different race winners in 6 races, a feat never seen before in Formula 1.

Webber fends off Rosberg at the start

The Australian was chased to the flag by Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. The race was a procedure for the first 60 laps, until light rain bunched up the pack and caused a fair few spills in the dying few laps. Here is what happened…

At the start, Webber and Rosberg held the front row, while Romain Grosjean was tipped into a spin by Michael Schumacher. Pastor Maldonado was rear-ended by Pedro de la Rosa, ending both drivers’ races.

The safety car was called for Grosjean’s stray car, allowing the field to cool off after a fiery start.

Grosjean spins while Kobayashi goes airborne

The race restarted on lap 4, with Vettel up to 6th on the prime tyre. Fernando Alonso hounded Lewis Hamilton for 3rd, but was unable to pass the McLaren.

Sergio Perez pulled a move on Jean-Eric Vergne, but the Toro Rosso driver cut the chicane in order to keep his position. After a few laps, race control ordered Vergne to hand the position back.

The super-soft tyres lasted longer than most people had expected, with most drivers staying out for up to 30 laps. Kimi Raikkonen was the first of the frontrunners to fall off the cliff, creating a “Raikkonen railway” of cars being held up behind.

After Nico Rosberg pitted from 2nd, followed closely by Webber and Hamilton, Raikkonen stopped and released the train of cars, falling to 11th. At his only pit stop, Fernando Alonso did the undercut on Lewis Hamilton.

The stops left Sebastian Vettel in the lead, yet to stop on the prime tyre. He showed impressive pace, opening up a 17 second gap to his teammate Webber. The other driver on a risky strategy – Button – was having a disastrous race. He stopped on lap 39, and emerged behind Heikki Kovalainen. Unable to make a move, he was stuck there for the rest of the race.

Vettel, meanwhile, came out in 4th after his stop, slicing across Hamilton at pit exit. Sergio Perez was handed a drive-through penalty for a dangerous move on Kimi Raikkonen. As the Sauber entered the pits, he swerved across the Lotus, forcing Kimi to take evasive action.

Michael Schumacher had worked his way up to 7th once the order had died down. However, he was soon on the team radio complaining of an unspecified problem. The team reassured him that it wasn’t critical, but he was still forced to hand 7th to Jean-Eric Vergne. Once the Force Indias carved him up, the Mercedes car was forced to retire.

With only 10 laps to go, light rain began to fall. This bunched the top 6 up, with as little as 3.6 seconds separating them. Jean-Eric Vergne pitted for intermediates with 8 laps to go, causing a shake-up in strategies.

Jenson Button, in a state of desperation, tried a move on Kovalainen after the Swimming Pool, but spun, and gave up on the race.

The light rain bunched up the frontrunners, but nobody was foolish enough to make a move. With the track drying out in the final laps, Mark Webber crossed the line to take his first victory of the season, with 5 cars chasing him to the flag.

Felipe Massa quadrupled his 2012 points tally with 6th, and the two Force Indias, Raikkonen and Bruno Senna filled out the top 10.

Fernando Alonso now leads the world championship, 3 points ahead of Webber and Vettel. After such an unpredictable few races, we may still see out 7th winner in Canada – can anyone rule out Lewis Hamilton?